Rockefeller’s focus is firmly on increasing visibility and equity for women artists, marking a shift in relation to her antecedents. ‘In the past, I don’t think you would ever have had a conversation about being an artist and a mother – not in my parents’ time, and certainly not in my grandparents’.’
Beyond acquisitions, Rockefeller, Hill, and Tanna all emphasize supporting the wider art world as integral to their activities. Hill is a founding member of the Met’s Vanguard Council, sits on the Guggenheim Museum’s Education Committee, and recently became a Trustee of the Parrish Art Museum on Long Island. Tanna has supported exhibitions and acquisitions at institutions including the Barbican in London, the Contemporary Art Society, and the National Galleries of Scotland. In 2024, the Tia Collection partnered with the Henry Moore Foundation and London Gallery Weekend to create a £20,000 grant for institutional projects. ‘As a younger collector, you’re finding your feet and establishing your voice,’ says Tanna. ‘Both collecting and philanthropy are areas where guidance and mentorship are essential; without them, it’s easy to feel unanchored.’
‘My biggest source of advice is my father,’ says Hill, who travels with him to see artists and exhibitions, discussing potential acquisitions. While disagreements spark lively debate, she adds, ‘I am more persuasive.’ Tanna, too, manages the Tia Collection with her father. This, she says, was ‘always a dream of his.’ Similarly, the process is not without a little friction from time to time. Where her father collects on impulse and intuition, she is more methodical: making lists, researching artists, and setting goals. Tanna is ambitious but cool-headed. The prospect of inheriting full responsibility as an only child, she says does make her consider ‘the new directions and challenges I will face.’